First Grade Leaf Collages

I love to do this project with the first graders. Its great for fine motor skills and I think the results are always spectacular.

The students use a mixture of water and glue to paste down the tissue squares. I also use oaktag with a leaf traced on it, the paper needs to be thick enough to deal with the giant puddles of glue water that they will inevitably paint on.

 The gluing takes one art class. When the students return to me for the next session, they cut out the leaf and glue it on to a square of paper. Then we discuss borders, and patterns and they use cut paper squares in a variety of colors for the border. They can do a pattern if they like but its not mandatory.

 I also let them use a sharpie to add the veins to the leaf. I try to throw in a little science lesson and compare the veins in our bodies to the veins in the leaf.

Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli

The second graders read the story, "Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli" by Barbara Jean Hicks. That was the starting point for their mixed media collages. We talked about how monsters could look, what kind of characteristics to add, etc. I had them start out drawing in pencil on white card stock. They then added texture and details using crayons, but not too much as the next week they used water color paints on them.

After they painted their creatures, they cut them out and then began to build the city. They were giving rectangles of different sizes and black and white crayons. They also had scissors and could choose to change the shapes of the buildings if they chose to. We discussed skylines and how to make different types of windows to add visual interest to the skyline. When they finished that, they glued their monsters in place.